Tag: touch

The sense of touch can significantly affect how animals and humans perceive the world around them, enriching their experiences and allowing them to gather more information about their surroundings and other living organisms. Although touch is a crucial aspect of perceptual experience, in philosophical, psychological and neuroscientific research it has often been overshadowed by vision.

A study led by Boston Children’s Hospital and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) may open up new opportunities for treating neuropathic pain, a difficult-to-treat type of chronic pain due to damage to the nervous system that can make the lightest touch intensely painful. In a report today in Nature, scientists led by Zhigang

Scientists report they have uncovered a previously overlooked connection between neurons in two distinct areas of the mammalian brain. The neurons, they say, control the sense of touch, and their experiments in mice offer insights into mapping brain circuitry that is responsible for normal and abnormal perception and movements linked to touch. Results of the

Long lasting gentle touch decreases stress hormones and decelerate heart beat frequency. It also activates brain areas commonly linked to reward. These research results are presented in a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg. Findings that can be useful in designing therapies to help people relax. A gentle touch is comforting for most people,